Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021
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Amendment of Principal Act - insertion of sections 18A to 18F | ||
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8. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 18: | ||
“Establishment of Advisory Committee | ||
18A. (1) The Minister shall, by order, appoint a day to be the establishment day (in this Act referred to as the ‘establishment day’) for the purposes of this Act, and the establishment day shall be a day that is not later than 6 months after the passing of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021. | ||
(2) There shall stand established on the establishment day a committee to be known as the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee (in this Act referred to as ‘the Advisory Committee’). | ||
(3) The secretariat and the executive functions of the Advisory Committee shall be provided by the Minister and shall include, at the request of a member of the Advisory Committee or as the Minister considers appropriate, facilities for the simultaneous or consecutive interpretation of proceedings of the committee from one official language into the other official language. | ||
(4) An order under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | ||
Membership of Advisory Committee | ||
18B. (1) The Advisory Committee shall consist of the following members— | ||
(a) a Chairperson, and | ||
(b) not less than 5 and not more than 10 ordinary members, | ||
each of whom shall be appointed by the Minister. | ||
(2) The Minister shall designate one member of the Advisory Committee as Chairperson, and the person so designated shall be a person who is competent in the Irish language. | ||
(3) The ordinary members of the Advisory Committee shall include— | ||
(a) one member nominated by the Minister as a representative of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, | ||
(b) one member nominated by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform as a representative of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, | ||
(c) one member nominated by the Public Appointments Service as a representative of the Public Appointments Service, | ||
(d) not more than 6 other members nominated by public bodies as representatives of such public bodies as the Minister considers appropriate, | ||
(e) one member, who shall be competent in the Irish language, nominated by the Minister, following a process established by the Public Appointments Service, as a representative of Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, and | ||
(f) one member, who shall be competent in the Irish language, nominated by the Minister, following a process established by the Public Appointments Service, as a representative of areas of the State that are not Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas. | ||
(4) A member of the Advisory Committee shall be subject to such terms and conditions and be paid such allowances for expenses as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, determine. | ||
(5) If the Chairperson is for any reason unable to continue to act as Chairperson, the Minister may designate another member of the Advisory Committee to act as Chairperson. | ||
(6) A member of the Advisory Committee shall hold office for such period not exceeding 6 years from the date of his or her appointment, as the Minister shall determine. | ||
(7) Subject to subsection (8), a member of the Advisory Committee whose term of office expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment to the Advisory Committee. | ||
(8) A member of the Advisory Committee who has served 2 consecutive terms of office shall not be eligible for reappointment to the Advisory Committee until a period of 6 years has elapsed following the end of the second consecutive term. | ||
(9) A member of the Advisory Committee may resign from the Advisory Committee by letter addressed to the Minister, and the resignation shall take effect on the date specified in the letter, or the date on which the Minister receives the letter, whichever is the later. | ||
(10) A member of the Advisory Committee may at any time be removed from membership of the Advisory Committee by the Minister if, in the Minister’s opinion, the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions, or has committed stated misbehaviour, or his or her removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance by the Advisory Committee of its functions. | ||
(11) A member of the Advisory Committee shall cease to be, and shall be disqualified from being, a member of the Advisory Committee where such member— | ||
(a) on conviction on indictment by a court of competent jurisdiction is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, or | ||
(b) is subject or is deemed to be subject to a disqualification order, within the meaning of Chapter 4 of Part 14 of the Companies Act 2014 , whether by virtue of that Chapter or any other provision of that Act. | ||
(12) The Minister shall determine the procedures of the Advisory Committee. | ||
Functions of Advisory Committee | ||
18C. (1) The Advisory Committee shall— | ||
(a) as soon as may be but not later than 2 years after the establishment day prepare and submit to the Minister for approval a National Plan for the provision of public services through the medium of the Irish language (in this Act referred to as the ‘National Plan’) for a period specified in the National Plan (being not more than 6 years) in order to— | ||
(i) identify services provided by a public body or class of public bodies that are not provided through the medium of the Irish language and in relation to which the Advisory Committee is of the view that a language standard should be prescribed under section 19A(2), and | ||
(ii) specify, for the period to which the National Plan relates, strategies public bodies may employ (including how to make best use of resources available to the bodies) so that services of the public bodies concerned that are not provided through the medium of the Irish language may be so provided, | ||
(b) advise public bodies with respect to how services that are not provided by the bodies through the medium of the Irish language may be so provided, including— | ||
(i) advice with respect to the number and grade of staff who are competent in the Irish language that the body would require to provide such services through the medium of the Irish language, | ||
(ii) having regard to the objective referred to in subsection (3)(b), recommendations as to how to increase the number of staff who are competent in the Irish language, and | ||
(iii) advice as to the level of competence, having regard to the system of standards known as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, required by a person in order for him or her to provide such services through the medium of the Irish language, | ||
(c) conduct, or commission the conduct of, such research as the Advisory Committee deems appropriate in order to carry out its functions under paragraphs (a) and (b), and | ||
(d) every 5 years after the establishment day, carry out and submit to the Minister a survey on the level of competence in the Irish language of staff of public bodies, and such survey shall include the following: | ||
(i) the total number of staff of public bodies who are competent in the Irish language; | ||
(ii) the total number of staff of public bodies who have undertaken an Irish language training course; | ||
(iii) the total number of staff of public bodies who speak the Irish language in the workplace, whether when carrying out their duties or otherwise, and the frequency with which they speak the Irish language. | ||
(2) The Advisory Committee shall prepare each subsequent National Plan not earlier than 6 months, and not later than 3 months, before the expiration of the period specified in the National Plan and section 18D shall apply, with any necessary modifications, in relation to each subsequent National Plan as if any reference, to the National Plan, in that section were a reference to a subsequent National Plan. | ||
(3) The Advisory Committee shall, in performing its functions under this Act, have regard to the following objectives— | ||
(a) increasing the services provided by public bodies through the medium of the Irish language, having particular regard to services provided by public bodies in Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, Gaeltacht Service Towns and Irish Language Networks, and | ||
(b) increasing the number of staff of public bodies who are competent in the Irish language so that, as soon as practicable after the establishment day, but no later than 31 December 2030, at least 20 per cent of staff recruited to public bodies are so competent. | ||
(4) The Advisory Committee shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions. | ||
Duty of Minister in respect of National Plan prepared under section 18C | ||
18D. (1) The Minister shall— | ||
(a) within 3 months of receiving the National Plan under section 18C(1)(a)— | ||
(i) approve the National Plan without modification or with such modifications as he or she considers appropriate, | ||
(ii) specify the date on which the National Plan should come into operation, and | ||
(iii) submit the National Plan to the Government, | ||
and | ||
(b) as soon as may be thereafter— | ||
(i) cause copies of the National Plan to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and | ||
(ii) publish a copy of the National Plan on the website of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. | ||
(2) The Minister may, as he or she considers appropriate, request a public body, in respect of whom services identified in the National Plan as services provided by the body concerned that are not provided through the medium of the Irish language, to report to the Minister in relation to progress made by the body to so provide the services and to implement the Plan, and the Minister shall be responsible for the co-ordination of the implementation of the Plan by all such public bodies. | ||
Public bodies in Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas | ||
18E. The Minister shall, by order, within 3 months of submitting the National Plan to the Government under section 18D(1)(a)(iii) and having regard to the National Plan— | ||
(a) specify the date by which the Irish language shall become the working language in the offices, in a Gaeltacht Language Planning Area, of a public body or class of public bodies and different dates may be specified in respect of different Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, and | ||
(b) specify the date by which all services provided by a public body or class of public bodies in a Gaeltacht Language Planning Area (including such services provided by a public body or class of public bodies from outside the Gaeltacht Language Planning Area) shall be provided through the medium of the Irish language and different dates may be specified in respect of different Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas. | ||
Report of Advisory Committee | ||
18F. (1) The Advisory Committee shall, not later than 30 June of each year, provide a progress report to the Minister and to the Commissioner with regard to its work during the preceding year or, in the case of its first progress report, its work from the establishment day up to and including 31 December of the following year. | ||
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Advisory Committee may, from time to time, furnish to the Minister such information about the performance of its functions as it considers appropriate and shall furnish to the Minister any information about the performance of its functions requested by the Minister. | ||
(3) The Commissioner shall, within 6 months of receiving the report referred to in subsection (1), prepare and submit to the Minister a commentary on the report. | ||
(4) The Minister shall, within 3 months of receiving the commentary referred to in subsection (3), submit the commentary and the report referred to in subsection (1) to the Government and, as soon as may be thereafter— | ||
(a) cause copies of the report and commentary to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and | ||
(b) publish copies of the report and commentary on the website of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.”. |